


A Life's Debt

by Jevil_Joss



Category: RWBY
Genre: Cardin Reformation, Fluff, M/M, RWBY Uncommon Ships, V1 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22592113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jevil_Joss/pseuds/Jevil_Joss
Summary: Velvet bumps into Cardin in the hallways, and gets a different reaction than she would have expected.
Relationships: Cardin Winchester/Jaune Arc
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15
Collections: Uncommon RWBY Ships





	A Life's Debt

_Oh, no._

Velvet backed away from Cardin. If she'd accidentally bumped into Ruby, she'd expect awkward apologizing. Bump into Yatsuhashi and you'd get him worried over you and helping you to your feet. But Cardin? Of all the people to ram, he was one of the least apologetic. 

His face filled with anger. Then, he seemed to...stop? He let out a breath, shaking his head, and put on a perhaps forced smile. "Sorry," he said. Quickly, he walked around her and continued on. 

Velvet blinked, looking after him, confused. She'd expected...Velvet didn't know what she'd expected, but that hadn't been it. 

Perplexed, and relieved, she went on to find Coco(though moving at a slower pace). She stomped over to Coco, saying, "Did you do something to Cardin?"

Coco looked at her, away from her book, and said, "Uh...no. Why?"

Velvet sat down. "I accidentally bumped into him in the hallway," she said. "I...expected like...I don't know, some form of insults?" She shook her head. 

"What did he do?" Coco asked, anger rising in her voice. 

"He apologized," Velvet said. 

Coco abruptly stopped. "Excuse me? We talking about the same Cardin?" 

"I think," Velvet said. 

Coco straightened. "Well, I didn't beat him up. Yatsu, did you beat up Cardin?"

"Nope."

"Fox?"

"Uh, no. I know he and Jaune spent some time together at Forever Fall, and he changed after that."

Velvet and Coco shared a look. 

"I'll go ask Jaune," Velvet said slowly. 

She knocked on the door to JNPR's room. After a pause, the door opened, and the blonde team leader looked down at the shorter faunus. "Oh. Velvet. What's up?"

"Um, I just met Cardin," Velvet said slowly. "In the halls. I bumped into him, but instead of some racist insult he just apologized and walked off."

Jaune looked confused. "We talking about Cardin Winchester? That jerk?"

Velvet nodded. "I checked--none of my teammates beat him up. But Fox mentioned that the two of you spent some time together at Forever Fall..."

Jaune looked alarmed. "People are talking about that?"

Velvet stared at his sudden outburst. "About what?" she asked curiously. 

"Um...nothing," Jaune lied awkwardly. As Velvet raised an eyebrow, he said, "I'll talk to him later, see if I can figure out what's up." He slowly closed the door. 

Velvet knocked on the door again, Jaune opened it. "Are you two a couple?" the faunus asked. 

"Not a chance," Jaune told her, closing the door again. 

Cardin Winchester looked up at the statue. He was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he didn't notice when Jaune came over. He jumped when Jaune said, "Cardin?"

"Gods, you scared me," Cardin said, breathing out and putting a hand to his chest. "How can someone in armor possibly be that quiet?"

Jaune folded his hands over his chest. "Everyone's been saying that you've been acting weird here lately."

"And you came to check on me?" Cardin asked, raising an eyebrow. 

"Well, you've suddenly started acting way differently," Jaune said defensively. "By that, I mean acting nice."

"Ouch," Cardin muttered. "And thanks."

Jaune blinked. "Okay. What's going on with you?"

"Jaunie-boy, you saved my life," Cardin said. "There was a strong chance I would have died had you not been there for me. So I had to figure out how to repay you."

"Huh?" 

"And I realized, the way to repay you was by getting my act together." He paused. "It's...been a rocky road, and I...haven't quite mastered it."

"I don't think anyone has," Jaune said with a chuckle. 

Cardin smiled at him. "Thanks for that," he said quietly, with a playful punch to Jaune's shoulder. 

Jaune smiled sheepishly. "Well, consider that debt repaid. You're actually a tolerable person now."

Cardin paused again. "I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment."

"It can go either way," Jaune said, smiling at him. 

**Author's Note:**

> So I've always thought that after Jaunedice and the fact that Jaune saved Cardin, he actually turns around and changes himself a little. Perhaps he did, in canon, and is actually a nice guy now? We do know that he's not the worst person in the world.  
> If you have a ship you'd like to see me write, please feel free to leave a comment.


End file.
